Introduction. xxiii 



monuments on the one hand and the sites of ancient gold 

 and copper mines and pearl beds on the other — a fact 

 which is proving- of supreme value and importance in the 

 interpretation of the early history of civilisation. He 

 made use of the Iberian Peninsula and India as demon- 

 strations of his argument. But it applies also to the 

 whole world, with the possible exception of Australia. 

 De Morgan has called attention to the remarkable co- 

 incidence of the sites of megalithic monuments in the 

 Caucasus (and on the shores of the Black and Caspian 

 Seas) and those of old gold and copper mines." Baelz has 

 made a similar observation with reference to Japan and 

 Corea.^" Perry and I have found the same association 

 around the head-waters of the Yenesei and along two 

 lines leading from it respectively to the Iranian area and 

 along the Amur to the Pacific. The same remarkable 

 coincidences are found in the Philippines, in Celebes, and 

 in fact throughout Indonesia. 



But the same people who settled in these isolated 

 spots to work the gold and copper, and incidentally to 

 erect megalithic tombs and temples, were also searching 

 for pearls and making use of shell-trumpets. When 

 Mr. Perry has published the results of his investigations 

 it will be seen that in the Indonesian area and New 

 Guinea the explanation of the remarkable fact that the 

 megalithic culture took root in some strips of coast and 

 not in others was due to the fact that pearls were to be 

 obtained only in those places where the evidence of these 

 western influences is found. 



In Mexico, Central America and Peru, " Tyrian " 

 purple was used in the same localities as the shell-trumpet 

 and where there is evidence of a special appreciation of 



'° " Les Premieres Civilizations," p. 404 ; also " Mission an Caucase," 

 lome I. 



1" Zeitsch.fiii- Ethnologie, Bd. 42, 1910, p. 776. 



